A member of the National Toy Hall of Fame since 2015, the Super Soaker made all water guns that came before it look feeble and meek—and the hydro-cannon’s roots are anything but humble.
Sort of a lazy person’s jump rope, Skip-It—which debuted in the late ’80s but rose to stardom in the ’90s—went around one ankle like a rubbery ball and chain.
According to the Times Union, the doll, which exchanged giggles for tickles and hugs, retailed for $30, but went for as much as $1,000 on the secondary market at the height of the craze.
In May 2012, a hand-drawn sketch of weapon-wielding, martial-artist turtles sold at auction for $71,700—it had been drawn in 1983 as the prototype for a new adult comic book series called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”